Jimmy Butler praises Heat after win vs Celtics in Game 7 but insists attention is now on the Nuggets

Following the Miami Heat’s 103–84 victory over the Boston Celtics in Game 7 of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals, Jimmy Butler gave credit to his teammates as he delivered a message about their goal.

“I have so much confidence in myself and this group of guys,” Butler said after accepting the trophy. “And the squad that Coach Pat (General Manager Pat Riley), Spo (Head Coach Eril Spoelstra), and everyone else put together.”

‘I see it every day. I know how good players we have, I know how good we are as a team. And we made it happen.’

Butler would go on to say, “We stuck together as a group, as a team we talked about having a hard time on the road and we did that. But we are not satisfied.’

“We’re excited, we’re happy, but we’ve got four more to go.

Butler recorded 28 points, seven rebounds and six assists in the Game 7 win against Boston

As for the game itself, Butler scored 28 points and Caleb Martin had 26 points and 10 rebounds to help the Heat avoid being on the wrong side of history.

The Heat bounced back from a 3–0 series lead to advance to the NBA Finals for the second time in four seasons. They will face the Western Conference champion Nuggets, with Game 1 in Denver on Thursday night.

Bam Adebayo scored 12 points with 10 rebounds for Miami, the first No. 8 to play for a championship since the New York Knicks in 1999. Top-seeded Denver is already waiting for victory over the Los Angeles Lakers on May 22.

Game 6 hero Derrick White scored 18 for Boston, which hoped to become the first ever NBA team to advance after trailing 0-3 in a best-of-seven series. Jaylen Brown scored 19 with eight rebounds, but went 1 for 9 from 3-point range.

Jayson Tatum, who scored a Game 7-record 51 points against Philadelphia in the conference semifinals, had 14 points with 11 rebounds after spraining his ankle on the first play of the game and limping for 42 minutes.

The Celtics led by five points early on before giving up a 14–4 run to close out the first quarter and then give up 16 of the first 22 points in the second. Boston trimmed the deficit to seven runs late in the third inning, but Miami took a 76–66 lead at the break and scored the first seven runs of the fourth quarter to pull away.

The Heat won its first three games—two of them in Boston—and needed just one more win to reach the NBA Finals. None of the 150 teams that have opened up a 3-0 lead in an NBA playoff series have ever failed to go through.

Bam Adebayo (13) was one of two Miami players to have a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebs

Caleb Martin was the other, with 26 points and ten rebounds while shooting from the field 11-16

But the Celtics propelled themselves by watching a documentary about the Boston Red Sox’s comeback after trailing 3-0 against the New York Yankees en route to the 2004 World Series. When the Celtics took the floor for Game 4 in Miami , ex-Yankees Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter sat next to the court.

Boston won Games 4 and 5 by double digits and held a comfortable lead in Game 6 before Miami pulled away to take a one-point lead with 3 seconds left. The Heat looked to get it as Marcus Smart’s desperate three-pointer came out, but White scored on a putback in the last 10th of a second to force a decisive seventh game.

At home, the Celtics greeted their fans with a pregame video that juxtaposed highlights of the Red Sox comeback with their own. 2004 Red Sox catalyst Kevin Millar recorded a message to whip up the crowd.

But the heavily favored Celtics couldn’t repeat the feat.